Class 5
A NEW LOOK AT ESTHER
Esther 8:1 – 10:3
The Feast of Purim
THREE PROMINENT THEMES 1. The Jews of the Persian empire and their great victory over their foes 2. The two stars of the Book of Esther, Esther and Mordecai 3. The origin of the Feast of Purim, which the Jews celebrate even to this day
ESTHER 8:1-2 1)
On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.
2)
And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
GENESIS 12:1-3 1)
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2)
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3)
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
ESTHER 8:5-6 5)
And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.
6)
For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
ESTHER 8:9-10 9)
The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the...
10)
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud,
ESTHER 8:11 11)
Saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods.
ESTHER 8:15-17 15)
Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
16)
The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
17)
And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
ESTHER 9:5 5)
The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.
ESTHER 9:11-13 11)
That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king.
12)
And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.”
ESTHER 9:11-13 13)
And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”
ESTHER 9:16 16)
Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
THREE BOTHERSOME ITEMS 1. The Feast of Purim is NOT established by GOD, but by MEN
ESTHER 9:17-18 17)
This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness.
18)
But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.
THREE BOTHERSOME ITEMS 1. The Feast of Purim is NOT established by GOD, but by MEN 2. The Jews are celebrating THEIR victory over their Enemies, NOT God’s victory
ESTHER 9:22 22)
As the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
THREE BOTHERSOME ITEMS 1. The Feast of Purim is NOT established by GOD, but by MEN 2. The Jews are celebrating THEIR victory over their Enemies, NOT God’s victory 3. The Feast of Purim is NOT like any other Feast
ESTHER 9:22 22)
As the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
RABBI TELUSKIN “Perhaps the oddest commandment in Jewish law is the one associated with Purim in which Jews are instructed to get drunk until they can no longer differentiate between “Blessed is Mordechai,” and “Cursed is Haman.”
ESTHER 10:1-3 1)
King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.
2)
And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
3)
For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS (AND QUESTIONS) • Why isn’t this called the Book of Hadassah? • Why is there no reference to Esther anywhere else in the Bible? • The things that the Jews thought important, are NOT the things of God • We SHOULDN’T find this present temporal kingdom attractive • Seek First the Kingdom of God, and don’t settle!
Esther 8:1 – 10:3
The Feast of Purim
THREE PROMINENT THEMES 1. The Jews of the Persian empire and their great victory over their foes 2. The two stars of the Book of Esther, Esther and Mordecai 3. The origin of the Feast of Purim, which the Jews celebrate even to this day
ESTHER 8:1-2 1)
On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.
2)
And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
GENESIS 12:1-3 1)
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2)
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3)
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
ESTHER 8:5-6 5)
And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.
6)
For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
ESTHER 8:9-10 9)
The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the...
10)
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud,
ESTHER 8:11 11)
Saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods.
ESTHER 8:15-17 15)
Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
16)
The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
17)
And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
ESTHER 9:5 5)
The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.
ESTHER 9:11-13 11)
That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king.
12)
And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.”
ESTHER 9:11-13 13)
And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”
ESTHER 9:16 16)
Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
THREE BOTHERSOME ITEMS 1. The Feast of Purim is NOT established by GOD, but by MEN
ESTHER 9:17-18 17)
This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness.
18)
But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.
THREE BOTHERSOME ITEMS 1. The Feast of Purim is NOT established by GOD, but by MEN 2. The Jews are celebrating THEIR victory over their Enemies, NOT God’s victory
ESTHER 9:22 22)
As the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
THREE BOTHERSOME ITEMS 1. The Feast of Purim is NOT established by GOD, but by MEN 2. The Jews are celebrating THEIR victory over their Enemies, NOT God’s victory 3. The Feast of Purim is NOT like any other Feast
ESTHER 9:22 22)
As the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
RABBI TELUSKIN “Perhaps the oddest commandment in Jewish law is the one associated with Purim in which Jews are instructed to get drunk until they can no longer differentiate between “Blessed is Mordechai,” and “Cursed is Haman.”
ESTHER 10:1-3 1)
King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.
2)
And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
3)
For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS (AND QUESTIONS) • Why isn’t this called the Book of Hadassah? • Why is there no reference to Esther anywhere else in the Bible? • The things that the Jews thought important, are NOT the things of God • We SHOULDN’T find this present temporal kingdom attractive • Seek First the Kingdom of God, and don’t settle!
